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Carlos Lehder was depicted as being arrested in the Tranquilandia bust. Although he was involved in the factory’s management, his capture went down differently. The first theory is that one of his employees ratted out his location. A second theory from one of Pablo’s sicarios is that the Medellin Cartel was worried that his radical behavior would put their operation at risk, so Escobar told the cops about Ledher’s whereabouts himself. Either way, what’s true is that Ledher was the first major drug kingpin extradited to the U.S. and he now rots in an American jail.

Escobar, along with Gacha’s help and under Carlos Lehder’s management, was processing over $1 billion worth of cocaine at Tranquilandia.

Carlos Ledher

Carlos bought property, a hotel and even built an airstrip protected by radars, bodyguards and Dobermans. He also started charging a $10,000 commission just for others to use his landing strip. Soon after, Carlos began pushing away natives and tourists until the island was completely his.

The Bahamas played a key role in the explosion of cocaine in the United States. Carlos Lehder, Escobar’s drug smuggling pilot, needed a refueling point between Colombia and Miami. In 1978, he began to land in Norman’s Cay and eventually made it his home away from home.

It wasn’t until Carlos Lehder came into the picture that Miami really became the epicenter of drug trafficking from Colombia to the U.S. Before him, no one had thought of bringing drugs into the U.S. on airplanes. Drug lords would hide them in cargo or in drug mules, but both had a high risk of either interception or death. Lehder and Pablo executed their vision of hiding coke on small planes and before long they were smuggling 300 kilos of coke each day. At the height of Escobar’s power, he was bringing in 15 tons of cocaine a day into Miami. No wonder it started a drug war!

Ledher was another of the founding members of the Medellín Cartel. A walking paradox, he idolized John Lennon and Adolf Hitler. Go figure. He became the transporter that facilitated the rapid growth of cocaine in the United States. He now rots in a U.S. prison and is considered to be the biggest drug kingpin successfully extradited.

Lehder was another of the founding members of the Medellín Cartel. A walking paradox, he idolized John Lennon and Adolf Hitler. Go figure. He became the transporter that facilitated the rapid growth of cocaine in the United States. He now rots in a U.S. prison and is considered to be the biggest drug kingpin successfully extradited.